Britain could sure use Maggie now...
This is very serious. Irraeli soldiers seized months ago are still being held.
This could grow to big time shooting, especially when some UK news anchor mentions that the female sailor is probably being raped repeatedly, as this is standard conduct for women prisoners in that culture.
Snatch three ayatollahs. Impale two, as the proof of earnestness, and use the third one as a bargaining chip.
I don't think they would dare.
If they come back nhaving been tortured in any way, there will be hell to pay.
It will be all the countenance on our end you guys will need to wipe the floor with these islamo facists.
I think the UK should cose that door completely. Give a 24 hr ultimatum. "Our men were not spying. We know it. You know it. Return them, or it will be seen as an act of war. By the way ... you might want to review the NATO charter: we have friends who are sworn to side with us if we care attacked. You just attacked us."
Shouldn't this be in "Breaking News"? And how can a group of Brits in Iraqi teritorial or even International waters be "insurgents"? Imapsychopath is listening to CNN too much. THEY don't know the definition of the word, either.
No, this is not an escalation. This is business as usual from the Iranians. Let's take a ride down memory lane. 4 Nov 1979 to 20 Jan 1981 52 Americans are held hostage by Iranian. Iran created and financed Hezbollah who routinely kill people in Lebanon and seek to establish a Shia Islamic Republic. For example, 23 Oct 1983 Iran's Hezbollah agents in Lebanon blow up a barracks with 1200 pound bomb 299 marines and 6 civilians. In 1992 and 1994, Iran's proxy Hezbollah blew up an Israeli Embassy and a Jewish Community Center in Argentina killing 121 people in these combined attacks. In Jul 2006, Hezbollah, under Iranians guidance, kidnapped two Israeli soldiers in Israel and caused the war last Summer with Israel. During that war, Iranian-made rockets and Iranian bought missiles and rockets rained down on civilians in Israel. Iran has supplied the training - mostly Hezbollah trainers - and weapons used in IEDs that kill American forces and coalition forces in Iraq. Iran has been doing this and much more for a long, long time.
I think Ahmadinejad might be having political problems at home and is hoping for a limited military attack to make himself a victim of foreign oppression. And I believe we can thank our own democrats for weakening our foreign policy and that of our allies to the point where the Iranians believe all out war is an impossibility.
This seems similar to the Chinese incident with the spy plane early in Bush's first term. I believe the Chinese were planning to try those personnel as spies, but it was just posturing to get a deal for their release.
Remember the stated military strategy of Al Qaeda - first, eliminate the support from allies of the United States. Spain, France, Denmark, the Netherlands... all of which has had to deal with organized Islamic terrorism on their soil. The Australians were targeted but haven't folded. Now the English are targeted. If they fold, then the coalition against the Islamofascists is reduced to the United States, Israel, and Australia.
My guess is that Iran has decided to capture the British soldiers as part of a larger strategy. Kill the soldiers; get rid of Blair; embolden the Islamic world; and the war progresses in its glacial pace, exactly as it is supposed to be. You don't want to provoke an all-out war with a nuclear superpower; you want to slowly erode support, erode strength of will, and erode legitimacy. Eventually, all that will be required is a small push and your enemy is demolished.
Britain seems to act when they feel their prestige is on the line (e.g. the Falklands). This is one one of those times.
The Britain I used to know wouldn't put up with this Muzzie bulls**t.
Let's see if the UK still has any collective stones or not.
Britain could sure use Maggie now...
This jerk needs a permanent attitude adjustment.
Subhi Sadek, the Guards’ weekly newspaper, warned last weekend that the force had “the ability to capture a bunch of blue-eyed blond-haired officers and feed them to our fighting cocks”.
Yeah? Really? Punctilio requires that the U.S. follow Britain's lead on this one, but I sense a bulldog straining his chain here. These guys are about this close to getting an ugly-ass education whose redeeming feature will be its permanence.
As an American, I can say I've really, really had it with these asshats. I first encountered these guys back when they were "students" doing the bag-over-the-head thing and "protesting" in the Student Union at the University of Oklahoma in 1973. I spoke to one of them and got an immediate and abiding impression that these are bad guys, tough guys, and that they respected neither our country, nor our insitutions, nor even the idea of education. After Khomeini came to power they all went home and joined the Pasdaran. Many of them died in the Iran-Iraq War, but here it is 35 years later and we're still putting up with some of these same guys.
Just logged on - so this may have been addressed...
But with today's satellite imaging and pinpoint GPS technologies, why hasn't the exact location been photographically demonstrated and mapped for public consumption????
Anyone know???
Also, this makes me wonder what the cargo really was on that Iranian ship that the Brits stopped....
God, give our leaders the strength to stand up to these bastards.
Give Iran the 5 prisoners they want and get our 15 people back. Immediately after, sink the entire Iranian Navy like we did in 1988 when Iran decided to intercept oil shipments and shoot at tankers.
Make sure to start with their brank new sub and then proceed to their Frigates and gunboats.
I think Iran is trying to lure the U.S or England into attacking them before Irael decides to clean up their mess.